KYIV -- The verdict in the trial of former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is due to be announced in 11 days.

Judge Serhiy Vovk said after Lutsenko’s courtroom testimony on February 16 that the verdict would be announced on February 27.

Lutsenko repeated in his court appearance that he is not guilty.

He was arrested in December 2010 and went on trial last May on charges of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds, which stem from his time as interior minister in the government of the now jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

The prosecutor in the case on February 14 asked that Lutsenko be sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail and pay some 28,000 euros ($36,000) in fines.